Lack of relationship between parity and level of carcinoembryonic antigen in women with breast cancer.
Women with high parity appear to be protected against the development of breast cancer. It has been suggested that those tumours which secrete carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) are destroyed in women who develop cell-mediated immunity to embryonic antigen at the time of pregnancy or childbirth at an early age. A study of 335 patients with breast cancer was designed to test the hypothesis that circulating levels of CEA would be lower in women with high parity and an early age at first pregnancy or live birth. CEA levels were higher if measured in the presence of tumour metastasis. There was no association between CEA levels and parity, age at first live birth, age at diagnosis or cigarette smoking. Thus we have no evidence that breast cancers which express embryonic antigens, such as CEA, are preferentially destroyed by an immune response which has arisen from embryonic inoculation during or around an early childbirth.
Heller
R
R
Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia.
Fisher
R
R
Nash
A
A
Knapp
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008423:Maternal Age; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000276:immunology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000276:immunology
D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen